Improvement in oil-pumps



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. ELLIOT, on ILIoN, NEW Yonk.

IMPROVEMIENT-IN en -PUMPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,530, dated May 2', 1865.

exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same devices in all the gures.

To enable others skilled in the-art to com` prehend, make, and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its nature, construction, and operation. r'

The nature of my invention consists of a suction air or gas pump in combination with the lifting-pump in common use, and also in a force-pump with the said suction and lifting pumps, as arranged in relation tothe surface of the earth and to the seed-bag, and in a support for the seed-bag in combination .V with a force-pump, and also in a suction-pump as arranged with a gas-separator and'lifting pump; and it further consists in a reversible suction and'forcepump as arranged with the lifting-pump.

The 'drawing represents au oil well ,with the three abovementioned pumps and gas- .separator in sections.

a is the inner surface of an oil-Well; b, ,lifting-pump; b', main tubing c, lifting-rod d, packing or seed bag; e, iron flange attached to the turbine f, gas-separator; g, suction and force or exhaust gas or air pump h, piston and piston-rod of the same t', outlet or force pipe;

fi', outletorforce valve; i, springofthesame la, inlet or suction pipe; k', inlet or suction.-

valve; j, reversin g-cock havin g three passages throughit; Inando, outlet-passages; n ando',

l outlet or openings through the outershell of the cock; l, inlet-passage, always connected with escape-pipe m; p, force-pump; q piston and piston-rod of the same; 1', outletvalves;

"r', spring ofthe same; s, inlet-valve, s', suction-pipe; t, force-pipe connecting the pump with the well below the seed bag; u, opening in the upper part of the gas-separator; fv, suction-pipe of the lifting-pump; v', check-valve above the ball-valves of the lifting-pump; w, stop-cock in the upper end of the main tubing; .'r, oil-veins; y, water-veins z, surface of thc earth.

lMyinvention is intended to obviate some of the difficulties in brin ging'oil from sluggish Wells. y v Y v It has been and is now generally supposed by persons in the businessof raising oil` that the presence of gas, when not` in suicient quantities to cause the well to blow or overiiow, is almost the onlyr obstacle inthe way of `raising the oil by means of the common lifting-pump. The theory'adopted by a majority ot' such persons is that the gas lifts up the valves and holds them up, so that the pump cannot operate. Little or-no effort has ever been made to ascertain the condition of things in the lower part ofthe wells, and it does notappear to be known positively whethl er., when the pump ceases to act, there is any oil in the Well within the reach of the pump, whether the oil is kept out of the pump by the presence of gas there, whether the oil is kept from rising up to the pump by the want of an escape-pipe through the seed-bag for gas which has accumulated below it, or whetherthe accuf mulation of paraine within the veins prevents the oil from liowing'into the well. One only of these diiculties would be entirely removed by the employment of the gas-sepAarator--viz that in which the presence of gas in the Aliftingpump prevents the valvesfrom acting. The other conditions require remedies especially adapted to them, though theA gas-separator is essential to perfect successin all cases, because there is always more or less gas in the well which should be kept out ofthe pump.

I Abelieve that in a large majority ofold wells that have become sluggish the veins are filled more or less with paraine, through which `the oil filters slowly into the well. To remedy this difficulty I employ two pumps, one a suction and one a force pump, or one pump which is both a suction and force pump in itself, in combination with a lifting-pum p.

The well is divided into twoparts by the packing or seed bag, which is placed between the water-veins, inthe upper part of the well, and

-the oil-veins, inthe lower part of the well, so

that suction or force may be applied to the` same power.

used for this purpose, butwater is preferable,

as the pressure or torce of the pump is increased by the weight of the column of waterthat is tosay, the force acting upon the oilveins at the bottom of a well five hundred feet deep, supposing the pump to exert a pressure `of two hundred and fifty pounds to the inch,

would give a force at the bottom of the well of about ive hundred pounds to the square inch to act upon the oil-veins, thus gaining about double the force when water is used that can.

be had by employing air in a pump ofthe Besides, -in forcing water the heat which is evolved by the condensation of air is avoided. Before a-pplying the water to the lower part of the well it is necessary to close all the outlets throughthe tubing, and for that reason'I employ in the main tubing stop-cock w and other stop-cocks in the other tubing. I then apply the force-pump till the pnrane isv driven back from the well and thoroughly broken up. I then stop the forcepurnp, open the stop-cock, and set the liftingpump and the suction-pump at work. The lifting-pump will remove the water that has been forced into the well, while at the same time the suction-pump, by its great capacity, produces a powerful suction within the lower part of the w'ell upon all the veins. Thus by applying a counter-force to the paraine it is more thoroughly broken up, and the oil is' brought with it into the well by the power of the suction-pump, and is lifted out of the well by the lifting-pump'.Y If the oil come into the well freely, it will iise'up to the seed-bag and` pass up the pipe m of the suction-pump, so as to prevent the suction-pump from acting upon the lower part of the well or removing the gas when it accumulates belw the seed-bag. To. remedy this difficulty I employ a reversing" valve, j, in yconnection with the suction-pump, so as to convertit into a forcepump, by which the oill iu the tubing is blown into the well, when the pump is again reversed and made a suction-pump.

The reversing-valve j is simplya three-way cock, (shown in section through the passa ges,) and is represented in the drawings as connecting the pipe m with the suction-pipe k and the force-pipe i with the outlet yo to the open air b ,f turning the cock so that the central pas# sage, l, connectswith the force-pipes, but still remains in connection with the pipe m, and so that the passage fn, connects the suction-pipe lc with the outer opening, n', the action of the pumpis reversed, and it becomes a force-pump.

' By using but one pipe descending into the well for both pumps, and by using a similar valve to valve j, connecting the pipes of the two pumps with the descending pipe, the pump p may be used as a water-pump for the purpose before mentioned, and as an air-pump to blow the oil'out of the descending pipe. In that case the pump g need not be a suction yandforce pump, but this would involve the necessity of stopping one pump and o'f startlng the other for the purpose of blowing the lifted out.

ient. One descending pipe for two pumps constructed as these are shown might be used practically by connecting them to the descending pipe by a cock, as before described.

Flange e is secured lfirmly to all the tubing, and serves as a support for the seed-bag, to enable it to resist any pressure that may be applied to the lower part ofthe well, the tendency of which would -be to raise the seed-bag. The tubing, in addition to its weight, requires to b e fastened down'at the top of the well.

The gas-separator herein shown serves the purpose of separating the gas'from the oil, so that the gas may not pass into the pump and preventit from acting. simply an internalwell or trap, into which the oil falls through openings u and is pumped out through suction-pipe v, while the gas passes upward through the pipe m.

The check-valve 'u' above both ball-valves of the lifting-pump supports the column of water While the upper ball-valve is descending, and thus relieves the lifting-rod ot' the strain of supporting the water in the main tubing when there is no water between the two ball-valves. y

One ofthe most important features of this invention is the employment of what is popularly termed a suction-pump, of large capacity, at the top of the well, to produce suction or vacuum below the seed-bag, for the purpose of drawing the oil into the well so as to bring it within the reach of the lifting-pump. The suction-power of the lifting-pump generally has but little or no influence upon the oilveins, though in a few instances, by running it rapidly, it has been known to increase the flow of oil into the well materially. With a suction-pump at the top of the well of proper capacity it is an easy matter to keep up a suction upon the oil-veins, often pounds on each square inch.

To obtain the full advantage of this combination of the pumps either with or without the gas-separator it is necessary that the suction or gas pump g, and also the force-pump p, should be arranged above the surface of the earth, or out of the hole or drivin g-tube, so that sufficient room may be had to 'make them of any required size, andthat the lifting-pump and gas-separator should be placed'below the seed-bag, so that they may be immersed in the oil which is to be separated from the gas and This arrangement of the gas-pump g and force-pumpp at the surface of the earth does not hinder their action, as the gas or suction pump is'capable of producing a vacuum at any depth, a-nd the force-pump is only intended .to force water into the well, which is afterward to ,be lifted outby Ehe lifting-pump.

It is necessary that the liftin separator should be immerse action upon the oil. Otherwise their action -pump and gasto insure their would be opposed by the vacuum produced by the gas-pump.

The peculiar function of the combined acl This gas-separator is Y.

-g'l-,sao i .3

l tion of the'gas andliftingpumpf-viz., pumping the oil from the ,veins without reference to the arrangement of these devices herein shown-cannot be performed by a single pump that is to say, gas and oil cannot be pumped practically with one pump when presented to thepump in certain proportions. In this consists the great diiiiculty met with by those who are in the business of raising oil, and it is completely obviated by employing two pumps together, vboth operating upon the 'well at the same time.

y in sufficient quantities at any onetime to till. the pump is taken in, its operation at once ceases, for the reason that at the great depth f at which these'pumps work the weight of oil resting upon the lifting-valve will not permit the gas in the pump to raise it when the lifting-Valve descends, so that the gas cannot es-' cape from the pump, andfas long as the gas remains in the pump its action is completely` destroyed.

Ido not confine myself to'the employment of pumps of any particular form for the purposes herein described.

Having described my y invention, what l claim, and desire to have securedto me bydLet-` ters `Patent of the United States, is, vizz' tion of oil from, thewell, and the auxiliary pump g, applied to the exhaustion of gasor air from a higher position in said well, co-opera-ting vsubstantially as described."

2. The auxiliary pump p, arranged. in relation to the foregoing, substantiallsr as shown and described. y

3. A suction or gas pump, g, and gas-separator f, the one arranged above the surface of the earth, and thepother belowr the seed-bag or packing, substantially asdesribed.

. et. A reversible suction and force gas pump,

g, and lifting-pump b, as arranged in relation to the seed-ba or packing and to the surface of the earth, substantially as set forth.

Witnesses:

THos. RICHARDSON. E.A. SrIoKLEs.

1. The main pump b, applied to the eleva'- 

